Brake pads OEM BMW or Hawk Performance

Hawk HPS for the street. Hawk Blue for the track.

ECS Big Brake kit Stage 2 v2 with Porsche calipers and Hawk HPS pads

R32 Front Brakes w/ Adam's Rotors (slotted pattern), Hawk HPS Pads, and TyrolSport brake stiffening kit GLI Rear Brakes w/ Adam's Rotors (slotted pattern), Hawk HPS Pads Stainless Steel Brake lines

I mentioned it up above but thought I'd expand on my experience with the Hawk HPSs...Car's at 95,000 miles now and I've done 8 trackdays since the car was new...I still have over half the pad left, don't have squealing issues on the street, they work well when cold...Overall, would highly recommend them as a street pad that functions in regular road use, in high performance backroad use, and copes well with track use too.

I mostly agree with the info above about the rotors. In terms of pads, I also vote for Hawk HPS or EBC GreenStuff. I've ran both and love them.

FWIW, for street driving, ECS recommended to simply upgrade the rotors to the drill slotted ones and upgrade the pad to maybe the Hawk HPA. That's something that would give you the visual appeal and brake performance upgrade w/o breaking the bank.

My 2008 MKV R32 has the exact same brakes you guys do, but carries 200+ lbs more car I did 3 RT on the Dragon up & back to the Lodge...around 8/10s, no brake fade or issues and the DSG was in Sport I just did the following at 46,750 miles - 4 new OEM rotors - $270 - I never turn rotors, they're a heat sink no sense making them less so. Hawk HPS pads - $210 - they dust about 95% less than OEM, work way better and no noise Goodridge SS lines- $110 - because SS gives a firmer pedal and less likely to burst Motul - $ 20? - because I was doing a fluid change anyway The braking effectiveness is noticeably better in feel & deceleration with no noise, no dust & no squealing I have used this same upgrade on Porsche 911s, Mustang Cobra & GT and always get the same outcome If you are overpowering your brakes, your driving skill set needs to be corrected as that's hard on equipment and ultimately slower... I raced 25 years in 911's and smoothness is faster everytime If you're going to track extensively, take a driving school, and then go hog wild making mods, once you understand the weak areas and how to upgrade to overcome them, Once you can use your stock setup to it's limit, then start making changes - hint - most people with no driving instruction don't even come close to utilizing their car's potential unless its a Tercel - a lesson I learned by doing Bondurant twice and various PCA schools and SCCA & IMSA clinics The weak point is always us in the beginning - Seat time practice + seat time is the key to happiness

I swapped out the OEM pads for Hawk HPS' within the first thousand miles and the Hawks have a quarter of the dust, no noise, an equal level of bite and OEM stopping power. They are the best of both worlds in my opinion.

I just put on Hawk HP pads today on drilled & slotted rotors, and did a proper bed-in procedure. When they're heated up, they do stop nicely - however, they do completely lack the initial bite of the OEM brakes

I did receive slightly used R32 front HPS pads for my R32 last year from them. I was a little dissapointed but I didn't want to wait two more weeks to get new pads.